Public servants mull court action over Yarde’s 30-year reign

By Brushell Blackman
As the picketing exercise continued yesterday outside the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU)’s headquarters at the junction of Shiv Chanderpaul Drive and Regent Street, Bourda, the protestors indicated that they are contemplating taking GPSU president Patrick Yarde to court over the 30-year monopoly he has had over the presidency of the union.

GPSU members picketing outside the union’s headquarters yesterday.

Addressing the media, Jermaine Hermanstyne said that they plan to challenge Yarde on two fronts in court; that Yarde is 72 years old, and that he has been at the helm of the GPSU since 1987.
Hermanstyne explained that Yarde being 72 goes against the union’s Constitution and he is clearly over the required age to be president. Hermanstyne did not say what the age requirement for the GPSU president is, as is stipulated by the said constitution.
He also said that members plan to challenge the transparency of the elections process that selects the GPSU president. Hermanstyne was asked what the difference will be in this instance, since members have previously hauled Yarde before the courts for a similar wrangling and those challenges proved futile.
Hermanstyne, a former GPSU employee, who alleges that he was forced out of the union by Yarde, said that they cannot sit back and allow Yarde to treat the union like his personal property. Hermanstyne said that under Yarde’s leadership membership has declined, and there has not been a satisfactory wage negotiation in recent times.
He also said that Yarde is in the habit of ‘calling out’ people about imposition and high-handedness when he is doing the same thing at the GPSU. “Why it is that no one else is able to lead this union?”
Hermanstyne said that they are currently galvanizing more support from across the public service, and it is hoped with this mobilization that members “will see the back of the president”.
According to another protestor, Yarde has threatened to serve them with lawyer’s letters for the picket that they have staged outside the union’s headquarters.
One woman said that although she has no issue with his age, “it’s about time the president demit the office and allow a younger person with fresh ideas to lead the union”.